ALMS - Laguna Seca - Preview
GT2 Down To The Wire
© Gary Horrocks

Here we go. The finale. Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca 2007. If it’s the middle of October, it must be Laguna time.

It’s been a long , but interesting season and here we go into the last race of 2007 with most of the Championship titles decided, but who cares. By taking the pressure off of gaining points, it might just make this one of the best rounds we have seen. Or, if the beginning half of Petit was any indication, it could flop and be one of the biggest crash fests that we have seen in quite some time. Hope fully we will have gotten the crashing out of the way two weeks ago and this time we see good honest clean, but competitive racing.

Likely, as it has been all season long, the focus will be on GT2. Being the remaining points Championship alive, it all comes down to Risi vs. Flying Lizards; Ferrari vs. Porsche. Sebring set the tone for this, but here, the season long hunt isn’t as close. In fact it might be considered on life support. Mika Salo and Jamie Melo hold a 22 point lead over Joerg Bergmeister and Johannes van Overbeek, with 23 points available. Thus, for the Lizards to take the title, they have to win the GT2 battle, with the Risi car finishing out of the points. Stranger things have happened before, but the odds for the Lizards have to be awfully long here.

The Team Championship is also between the same two teams, with Risi having a 13 point advantage. Ferrari holds a 10 point lead over Porsche in the Mfg championship. These are obviously a little more up in the air and add to the pressure that each team will feel. In fact, when it comes to these two championships, expect to see a little help from friends to come into play.

Giuseppe Risi sums it up well - “Once again, the GT2 Championship will come down to the final race at Laguna Seca. We have been talking all year about how competitive the GT2 series is in the American Le Mans Series, and this final race will prove it. All the other classes, LMP1, LMP2, and GT1 have already been decided but GT2 is still up for grabs. We will have our hands full with the Porsches, and it will take a full-on effort by both of our cars to have a chance at retaining the championship.”

But while this battle is going on, the others are playing for bragging rights. Audi vs. Porsche yet again. Can Acura bounce back from a disappointing Petit? Will Tony Kannan get into the AGR Acura for the race this time? We’ll see. I don’t think I’ll believe any comments about looking for class wins this time. Overall or nothing?

Last season at Laguna, after seeing the Audi R10 emerge undefeated in its first season, it was Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich stating, “we are looking for competition. We had competition in the past. It was here. The rule changes have been difficult for our competitors, but I’m still convinced that if somebody does a proper program with a non diesel design, we are in trouble.” At the time, most of us were likely thinking he meant a design to P1 spec, not P2. They were looking and they found it. Only problem is that it came from a so-called lesser class.

Allan McNish, who has won here before, including last year, when he backed his way down the corkscrew on the way to the win sees it as a being a tough battle for the Audis. “The LM P2 cars are once again likely to be a thorn in our sides. It’s an ideal circuit for them, the speeds of the corners are perfect for these cars and I’m certain that they will be extremely fast. For our Audi, the straights are unfortunately not long enough for us to stretch our legs. So from that point of view I think we’ll need to take a lot of risks in attempting to get the outright win but that’s what we’ll be aiming for.”

But it was 10 years ago the Allan made his first real big impression in sportscar racing. In the 1997 FIA race at Laguna, Allan was entered with Ralf Kelleners in a third Factory Porsche and led the race in the first hour, after qualifying 4th behind the 3 factory Mercedes entries. This was an unusual occurrence for Porsche that season, as it was a Mercedes season, but it did not last, as a bad pit stop dropped the pair down 3rd overall.

But this track seems to bring out those kind of performances. Maybe it’s the nature of the track itself. Low grip with all sorts of sand blowing around, or maybe it’s the surrounding beauty. Or, maybe it’s the end of the season and the give it all it’s got perspective.

In 2005, it was Zytek giving all it had and winning, making up for the disappointment of going out on the first lap at Petit. In 2006, we got to witness Ben Devlin confirm himself as a major talent, where he had the van der Stuer Radical flying, heading both of the Porsche P2 Spyders for a lengthy time. Who will it be this year?

Last year, we ended the race on a sad note, as what had been rumoured did occur. James Weaver stepped out of the car for the last time. Are we to see something similar occur again this year?

Corvette? Does anyone know what is up with them? Are they indeed going to step away from GT1 competition on a full time basis? Will Doug Fehan’s comments last year about the future of GT1 be given another chance to come true? “If we were to leave, I think you’d see about 20 cars show up in the GT1 class next year.” To at least add something to the GT1 scene, the Corvettes will be running a special “Bad Boys Vettes” scheme. It’s had to have been a long season for the Corvette team – they have deserved a better year than they have had. They deserved better – they deserved competition.

So, what’s new for this race? A lot, as this has been one of the most fluid entry lists in quite some time. Out, but previously announced are the van der Steur Radical and Johnny Mowlem, who due to injury had to step out of the P2 Zytek. His replacement will be announced soon. Given the right driver pairing (Stefan Mucke and ?), this car could feature, especially if the track proves to be a P2 type track as many are expecting.

Sadly, also forced to pull out is Emanuele Pirro from his customary seat in the #2 Audi. His place at Petit was taken by Lucas Luhr, who was supposed to be driving the Petersen White Lightning Ferrari. Lucas will return to that seat for Laguna and Audi will utilize Mike Rockenfeller. The whiplash suffered by Emanuele is just too much of a risk to his health.

Still in, as of this writing are the Prime Time Viper and Robertson Panoz, despite the damage suffered at Petit.

Tony Burgess will return to race with the Autocon team, which he debuted with at Mosport, and barring any last minute changes, Hayanari Shimoda is again scheduled to pair with Tom Chilton in the Arena Zytek, as the pair look to duplicate their success from 2005.

I can think of no better way of ending a season than at Laguna, especially if the weather is good. But, it is October at the California coast – you never know what you will get. Forecast so far? Not the greatest, but no matter – it is Laguna. Oh. That’s right. In-and-Out Burger too…